# WHAT IS CAPTOLOGY?

# PARENTS - SCARE OR PREPARE?

# REPORTING HARMFUL CONTENT

# SECRETS

# INTERNET SAFETY AT PRE-SCHOOL

# PASSWORDS

# FORTNITE SCAMS

www.esafety-adviser.com

EDITION 16 JANUARY 2019

Inthisedition

Foreword from

Alan Mackenzie

Welcome to Edition 16 of #DITTO

Hi there, I’m Alan Mackenzie.

I’m an independent consultant specialising in online safety, specifically within education to children, young people, schools and other organizations, and parents.

I ’m a strong believer that technology, for the most part, is neutral; behaviour is the most important aspect.

To understand behaviour, we have to be a part of children's lives in order to understand what they’re doing with technology and why.

We have to be curious and guide them to realise the wonderful opportunities that the online world gives to all of us, and be there to support them when they need it.

A very happy new year to all readers of #DITTO, I hope you had a wonderful Xmas and, most importantly of all had a pleasant, relaxing break.

It seems strange saying that now, Xmas and new year already feels like a long time ago, particularly as I was in the supermarket a couple of days ago and have already seen the Easter eggs!!

This year already looks to be an interesting year in the ever-widening area of online safety with lots of things being spoken about by government, including some things which, from the outside, sound a little strange, for example an ‘online passport’ for children so that their age can be verified (amongst other things). In theory it sounds good but the practicalities and the reality of whether such a thing would work or not remains to be seen. But, as ever, I will let you know as information comes to light.

I’ve got lots of diverse subjects and topics for you this month, some written by others and just a couple by myself. I hope there’s something here for everybody.

Alan

CAPTOLOGY There's plenty ofmedia scare stories telling us how

children and young people are addicted to their

devices and how this is causing an

increase in mental health issues -

anything from body image to

depression, from self harm to

suicideandsomuchmore.

But what the vast majority of

these reports miss is that

childrenandyoungpeopleare

under an incredible amount

of pressure - far more

pressure than when I was

theirageandIthinkpartof

that pressure is that they

seemuchmore of theworld.When Iwas

younger, way too many years ago, we were very

muchblinkered towherewe lived, butwealso saw

bitsandpiecesoftherestoftheworldthatwasfed

tousoverthetelevisionandinnewspapers.Butwith

the internet and technology this has changed

immenselyandnowtheyseethegoodsidebutalso

inparAcular thebadsideofhumanity, fromwars to

terrorismtocriminalacAvityandviolence.Butthere's

otherpressuresaswell,

increased poverty and

soc ia l depr ivaAon,

school and exams to

namejustafew.

I'mnotoneofthesetosignuptotheoverlysimplisAc

ideathatchildrenandyoungpeopleareaddictedto

their devices, and I certainly don't subscribe to the

appalling theory that technology, in parAcular social

media,islikecocaine.HoweverIdothinktechnology

providershaveaveryimportantparttoplayinallof

this and generally speaking I don't think they're

playingtheirpartverywell.

Captology is very much an American term which

stands for computers as persuasive technologies. I

like the term, it's simple and catchy and it's a great

Wha

t is

“Inorderforcaptologytoworkitneeds3things:motivation,ability

andatrigger.”

wayforchildrenandyoungpeopletodiscusswhether

they feel that socialmedia inparAcular is having an

adverse effect on theirmental health andwellbeing

ortheirsocialorfamilylifeingeneral.

Let's lookat this fromtheangle fromasocialmedia

company. They don’t design apps tomake our lives

moreinteresAngandjoyful,thesethingsaredesigned

tomakemoney.Inordertodothis,shareholdersand

companies who pay for their adverAsing services

wantmorepeopleinthoseapps,moreoIenonaday

todaybasis, foras longaspossible.Sohowdothey

dothat?

Captologyistheanswer.

In order for captology to

work effecAvely it needs 3

things:

• MoAvaAon

• Ability

• Trigger

M o A v a A o n - p a r t o f

moAvaAon is that it feels

good, for example sharing

withfriendsandothers,but

there's also a flip side to

this. What if you share

something and very few

peopleorno-oneatall likes

it?Whatwouldbethepoint

insharing?Thisisoneofthe

reasons youmighthearof people taking adozenor

moredifferentselfiestogettherightone.Soaswell

as sharing things, moAvaAon is about people liking,

sharingorcommenAngtoo.

Thenwehaveability,thisisasimpleone,itneedsto

be easy to use. If the app and its funcAons are

complicated then no-onewill use it. This is another

hugeareaallofitsownandit'scommonlyreferredto

as the UX or the usabilty. Some companies spend

millionsonthisalone.

The third is the trigger which you'll recognize as a

noAficaAon - that noAficaAon could be a sound, a

visualcueonyourphone,anemail,acombinaAonof

those or even all of those. For example within

Facebook, if you don't manage your noAficaAons, if

somebody tags you into something you'll get an

audible cue, a visual cue on your phone screen, a

visual cue in the app and an email just in case you

missedanyofthoseothercues.Talkaboutoverkill!

Not all apps are like that but you get the

idea, and if you're using a number of

d i ffe ren t s e r v i c e s i t c a n b e come

overwhelming. In many ways it's a double-

edged sword, you have to receive a

noAficaAoninordertoknowthatsomething

is waiAng for your aXenAon, but not so

muchthatyou'reconAnuallygeYngalerted

to stuff, so the key here ismanaging these

noAficaAons which are all turned on by

default.Forexampleall theapps Iusehave

their own noAficaAon seYngs, I have

managedallthesesothatforsomeI'llgeta

silentnoAficaAon, for somenonoAficaAons

atalland forothersanaudiblenoAficaAon.

At 9:30 every night all noAficaAons are

automaAcally turned off unAl 7:30 the next

morning.

It's important that we make children and

young people aware of this, both the pros

and cons of captology, so that they can make the

decisionwhattodo.Wecan'tmakethatdecisionfor

them, and for teenagers in parAcular it's a difficult

one as their social life and their social standing is

incrediblyimportant,butit'sadecisionthey'vegotto

make and they can only make it with the right

informaAon.

Alan Mackenzie

DOING IT TOGETHERAdvice for parents

Internet Safety at Pre-School

By:AlisonWa-s,CEOPAmbassador.

TodayIfoundmyself inanewsituaAon–myfirstpre-schoolchildren’spresentaAon.

TheSupervisor,who I know,hadcalledme in, asshe had noAced the children talking about beingon their iPads and computers, and were evenplayinggamesbasedonthis.

When Iarrived, loandbehold therewasagroupof children huddled around a toy the size andshapeofan iPad,pretending toswipe thescreenandwatchingitintently.

I sat and chaXed to thewhole group for awhileand found that every oneof themhad access toeither an iPad or a laptop computer at home.Someevenhadtheirown.

This shouldn’t have been a surprise for me, as Iregularlyvisitprimaryschools,includingrecepAonclasses, and am completely aware of how fasttechnologyismovingdowntheages,howevertheapps and games that they were using withoutsupervision did make me think. Many of themwere on YouTube and playing Roblox or similargames.Onechildhadevenmanagedtospendhisparent’smoney on game add-ons, without themrealisingforafewweeks.

Thissessionemphasisedtomejusthowsmartandswitchedonchildrenwhoaregrowingupwiththistechnology actually are, even at this young age,and the importance of starAng internet safetymessagesassoonastheypickuptheirfirstdevice.

HavingthenspokentotheparentstheyadmiXedto being afraid to enter into conversaAons withthe children aboutwhat theywere doing online,not knowing how to begin orwhat to say.Manywereusing thedeviceasagoodbaby-siYng toolwhilsttheytookcareofasiblingorcookeddinnerand the majority thought that seYng parentalseYngswouldbeenoughtokeeptheirchildsafe,not realising that controls are only part of asoluAon.

FromAlan:

ItiscompletelyunderstandablethatsomeparentswouldsetparentalcontrolseYngsondevicesandexpectthattheirchildrenwillbesafe,notabletoaccess inappropriate content, not make in-apppurchasesetc.AIerall,that’showtheseproductsare sold to us; a soluAon.However a technologytoolisneverasoluAon,thereisnosuchthing,it’sjustmarkeAng-speak.TheonlyeffecAvetoolisyouandme;theparents.Whateverdevicesorservices(games, YouTube etc.) you are allowing yourchildren access to, parAcularly younger children,it’s imperaAve that you have checked them outyourself first. Spend a liXle Ame looking onYouTubeoronGoogleresearchingorevenaskingfor advice from the school who will always bemorethanhappytohelp.Butmostofall,sitwithyour children and play with them; get to knowwhat they are doing and chat to them. You canonly learn by doing, and by talking to yourchildren.

Alan Mackenzie

Contribute to the magazine I’m always on the lookout for great content to share with schools and parents, but I also know that people have their own individual stories to tell. This information can be hugely beneficial for everybody.

• Are you a parent who has experienced something with your child? What was it and what did you do? Has your child experienced something and would he/she like to share their advice with others?

• Are you a school that has experienced a series of incidents? How did you tackle this? Do you have an innovative way to engage with specific online safety topics in the school?

• Do you have an opinion or a thought-provoking idea?

Drop me an email and let me know your thoughts. Everything can be kept anonymous if you wish.

Alan Mackenzie

alan@esafety-adviser.com

www.esafety-adviser.com

It can be useful for professionals to know about specific risks. So why not share them as widely as possible? If an app children use has had a grooming incident, a site seems to promote self-harm or suicide, or a game is full of inappropriate material, surely it makes sense to pass on this information to parents?

This may seem counter-intuitive, especially when you see scary headlines about the perils of the online world, but it’s not always helpful to name and shame. Not because the information is necessarily wrong, but it’s a complex issue, and there are three key problems with those headline-grabbing warnings. You run the risk of:

1. Generating a false sense of security. If parents think they just need to make sure their children aren’t playing one particular game, they might miss out what else is going on!

2. Giving free publicity  to what can sometimes be pretty awful sites. Widely spread warnings can even boost their traffic, especially if you are sharing a glossy poster about the dangers of a particular app. After all, tell a teenager something is off-limits or dangerous, what it’s called and where to find it, and what’s going to happen next…?

3. Spreading panic  and making parents think everything online is bad. That won’t help build digital resilience and it won’t make the most of the amazing opportunities of today’s technology. Nor of course will it encourage parents and children to talk openly about their online lives – the good, bad and the ugly. And this is what will help them stay safe from the real dangers that are out there.

So does that mean we don’t have any answers? Not at all. We carry out research to better understand the latest risks and dangers online, sometimes uncovering new ones ourselves, and we work hard to share this information with schools and to give them advice and resources that will help them understand how to manage the risks. What’s more, for the schools on our network, we have all kinds of technology to protect them, and for example where necessary we will move sites into different categories on our filtering to keep staff and pupils safe, too.

FOR

SC

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OLS Parents-ScareorPrepare?

What about the parents though – are we saying keep them in the dark? Not at all. But bad things happen on good apps (and vice versa). So rather than sharing lists of “dodgy” and “safe” apps, which are often based on headlines, rumours and last year’s scandals, we say instead focus on helping parents to understand the latest features and functionality of games and apps, and what to look out for when gaming or livestreaming, using virtual reality or whatever the next big thing is that hasn’t been invented yet.

Take  livestreaming, for example. It used to be available in only a few apps, but now it’s everywhere, almost as an afterthought sometimes. So don’t try to learn the names of everywhere you can stream, but talk to your child about if they are allowed to do it, and if so how, where and when. What’s allowed? What’s not? Take a look at undressed.lgfl.net for a warning message worth sharing in a non-scary way.

It can feel overwhelming for parents, so try to:

1. Drip feed information throughout the school year.

2. Remember to focus on the positives of using technology, as well as all the bad stuff. And above all, try to 

3. Help establish a dialogue between children and parents about their online lives. Parentsafe.lgfl.net has all kinds of materials from us and other amazing organisations working in this space to help you work with parents and support their conversations.

So remember, next time you are tempted to share a flashy name and shame warning with parents, stop for a second to ask yourself – is it going to scare or prepare; is it designed for panic or protection?

Oh, and by the way…

We accept that there are some really unsavoury apps run by companies which don’t seem to care about keeping children safe, and at the same time there are others with amazing ‘safety by design’ baked in, plus a commitment to keeping children safe. But the point is, this can change from one day to the next, and keeping up with it is virtually impossible, whereas talking to your child about having fun but staying safe online, plus showing an interest and discussing how to behave and react is altogether more realistic and productive in the long-term, and more likely to keep them safe when bad things happen on good apps.

FOR

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AhugethankstoLondonGridforLearning(LGfL)whokindlygavetheirpermissiontoreproducethisreallyimportantarticle.Youcanfindtheoriginal,plusavideoversion,and

lotsoflinksandresourcesontheirwebsitehere-https://safeblog.lgfl.net/2018/11/parents-scare-or-prepare/

Cyb

er T

raum

a

Secrets

In the sessions that I have with myclientsIhaveacontract,thatmeansthatany of the conversations we have areconKidential. This means I am notallowed or granted permission to tell,write about or discuss outside ofsupervision any of the content of thoseconversations. It's why counselling andpsychotherapy can be very helpful. SowhenitcametowritingthisarticleIhadto think very carefully about the ethicsaroundthis.

Sometimes, themes emerge in mypsychotherapy sessions and it's fromthese themes that I talk about thetrauma that children and young peoplea re exposed to . Th i s p reven t sidentiKicationofmyclientsandkeepsmypartof thecontractethicalandmoral. Ihavedecidedtouseoneofthesethemesas it relates to a number of issuesregardingthecyberspace.

T H E m o s ti m p o r t a n tpart of mywork andmyperspectiveandoutlookon lifepertainsto the concept of consent. This conceptis often overlooked, misused andmisunderstoodasmanyadultsthinkthisr e l a t e s t o c o n s e n t o f s e x u a lrelationships.

I like to think of this as the veryfoundationsuponwhich trust, empathy,permission, acceptance, values, moralsand ethics are built. This is a conceptthat can be taught to toddlers andbeyond and forms the basis ofacknowledgment of another's feelingsandrightsintheworld.Soletmetiethisconcept into the themes of cyberspaceand my psychotherapy room.With oneword:secrets.

Catherine Knibbs (BSc, MBACP (Accred), UKCP Adult Psychotherapeutic Counselling) is a child/adult trauma therapist and author. She is the leading researcher on cyber trauma in the UK, specialising in online abuse in all forms and provides consultancy, education and training on this topic.

Web: www.cybertrauma.com Twitter: @nibzy

Alargeproportionofmychildclientswhohave been cyber bullied, had intimatepictures shared, been ousted from groupchats, been victims of sexual harassmentand so on all had secrets shared aboutthemwithouttheirpermissionorconsent.Almost all of these clients had shared asecret with a trusted other and had thattrustbroken,overandoveragain.

You see, secrets are more precious thananymetal,jeweloramountofmoney.Itisa transaction fromonepersontoanotherthatisintendedtobuildthebondbetweentwo or more people. It often transcendsshameanddeepens the connection.Untilthattrustisbroken.

Now many moons ago when I was small and in the primary school playground, secrets were often shared out loud when a group of individuals had fallen out over something. One member would shout out and we would all hear the ousted “gossip”, including staff members. Sometimes others would run over to console said ousted member and often many of the other children would laugh and by lunchtime it was almost forgotten.

As the school years increased, secrets that were about who fancied whom and so on became the ousted “jems of gossip”.

So fast forward to an age where technology allows the outing of gossip silently. No one shouts out loud. The gossip can be transmitted far and wide and supersedes the boundaries of a playground. The gossip can be shared many times over the course of a day or week. The gossip can be added to, warped, changed, formatted, sexualised and criminalised. The children and young people engage in this both in and out of school and there's no respite for the victims.

All the while staff may be unaware of this as they are not on the same page (literally through social media) and silence is exactly that. Shame often prevents the retelling of a secret that has been violated. It is unlikely students will tell the teacher about this.

Sometimes they may delay this for a long time (perhaps until they are in my psychotherapy room). Violation of trust increases the feelings of dis-trust. Communication about the violation can become so difficult that it is often depressed downwards in the hope that it will go away/be forgotten about and passes quickly.

This is the advice we have been giving for many years, “ignore them”, “forget about it” and one that feels so dismissive to victims “they will pick on someone else soon”.

This devalues the effect on the victim and their feelings in relation to this violation. I often say to adults to try and imagine what it would be like if someone told your secret. Could you just forget about it?

I suggest that we can create a space of debate and discussions about consent and this may well be the foundation that allows a child to say “do you know, that wasn't okay that you shared that about me as I didn't give my consent”. It can be empowering and also acknowledges that we can say what is and is not okay from our perspective.

Consent is and always will be about ‘our perspective’ and when children and young people really understand this concept it allows them to build their own okayness with the world and others and when things are happening without their consent they can speak about this with empowerment. Isn't this what we want for all our children?

Cath

Cyber Synapse - by Cath Knibbs

A podcast for parents and professionals for cyber issues.

http://bit.ly/cysynapse

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2019

SaferInternetDay2019Tuesday5thFebruary

SID2019isalmostuponus,andalthoughsaferinternetdayisevery day, this is a great opportunity to celebrate successes,have more in-depth discussions and raise or re-iterateimportantpoints.

Download free education packs, activities for parents andcarersandmorefromthelinkbelow.

Imagecreditandsource:AndroidCentralhttps://www.androidcentral.com/

Asreportedinmanynewsoutletslatelastyear,given the popularity of Fortnite with childrenandyoungpeople, it’snosurprisetoseescamsontherise.

Between Sept and Oct 2018 a company calledZerofoxdiscovered53,000differentinstancesofonlinescamsrelatingtoFortniteandIwouldn’tbe surprised if this had grown significantlytowardsandafterXmas.

Unsurprisinglymanyofthesescamswerebeingcirculated on social media including YouTubewhere people are enticed into purchasing orgetting free V-Bucks (the currency within

Fortnite) in order to purchase skins or otheritems fromwithin the game. Fortnite currentlymakes an estimated $300 million per monthfromthesein-gamepurchases.

Notonlyaretheresupposedadverts(coupons)whichtakeyoutoafakewebsitewhereyouareasked to input details such as name, addressandcreditcarddetails,buttherehavealsobeena few Android apps developed which are alsofake.

https://www.zerofox.com/blog/zerofox-finds-fortnite-scams/

FORTNITESCAMS

Pleaseremindchildren:

YoucanonlypurchaseV-BucksthroughtheFortnitegameitself,throughdirectpurchaseorgameplay.

Imagecreditandsource:AndroidCentralhttps://www.androidcentral.com/

Overthelastfewweeks,particularlyjustbeforeXmas, I saw a number of reports in themediaabout an apparent new trend with childrencalledstripFortnite.

Ittookmealittlebysurprise,Ihadn’theardofsucha thingsoneeded todoa littledigging togetthefacts.

With the popularity of Fortnite, aswith scamsmentionedonthepreviouspage,it’snosurprisetoseevloggers(particularlyYouTube)tryingtoget their views and subscribernumbersup, sothey use what is popular with children at thetime, in thiscaseFortnite.Themoreviews, themoresubscribers,moremoney-simple!

So I did some searching on YouTube and sureenoughtherearethousandsuponthousandsofstrip Fortnite videos, some with millions ofviews.

Sowhat’sthepurposeofthesevideos?

Tosellmerchandise(or ‘merch’as thechildrencallit)oradrevenue.

Whatoftenhappensisthis:

AyoungmalewillplayFortnite,andeverytimehegetsakill,afemalehastoremoveanitemof

clothing,andwhilstsomeof thethumbnailsonthe videos are very suggestive, there is nonudity (at least none that I could find, andhaving spoken to many other consultants andschoolstheyhaven’tseenorheardofany).

Commonlyyouwill findthattheyounggirlhasmanylayersofclothingon,sometimesthesamebrand(merchandiseselling).

Itfrustratesmethattheseso-calledinfluencersarestoopingto lowerandlowerlevelstomakemoneybyexploitingthecuriosityofchildren.

STRIPFORTNITE

Theonlycourseofitskind:uniqueandengaging.

Keepingyou,yourstaff,governorsandparentsuptodate.

A1-daycourseforyouronlinesafetyleadcoveringarangeoftopicsincluding:

• Risksandopportunitiesrelatedtogaming,YouTubeandsocialmedia.Getyoursnorkel,we’llbegoingdeepintotheseareas.

• Wholeschoolapproachtomanagingonlinesafety.

• Engagingchildrenandparents.• Bestfreeresourcestouseintheclassroom

• andmuchmuchmore.

PLUS:Unlimited12monthsaccesstoonlinetrainingfor:

• Allteachingstaff.• Allsupportstaff.• Allgovernors.• Newjoinersduringthe12months.• Informationandguidancetosendouttoparents.

• Plusahalf-termly10-minutevideotobringallyourstaffrightuptodate.

ThecourseisdeliveredbyAlanMackenzieandisbeingheldatarangeofvenues.

London-24thJanuary2019Manchester-6thMarch2019

For more information:

http://www.esafety-adviser.com/onlinesafetypro

Over the last 2 years SWGfL hassuccessfully worked with industry totake down over 21,000 pieces ofharmful content. As a partner withinthe UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC),SWGfL is launching a new reporOngcentretoassistthepublicinreporOngonlineabuseandharmfulcontent:

ReportHarmfulContentOnline.

reportharmfulcontent.online supports vicAms ofonlineharmful contentandabuseand includesarevoluAonary new reporAng and advice system.The service provides up to date informaAon oncommunity standards and direct links to thecorrect reporAng faciliAes across mulApleplagorms.

Further support is available to users who wouldliketheoutcomeoftheirreportsreviewed.ReportHarmful Content Online will check submiXedreports and industry responses against plagorm-specific reporAng procedures and communitystandards in order to provide users with furtheradviceonacAonstheycantake.

Advice is provided on online issues such asbullying, harassment, threats, impersonaAon,unwanted sexual advances, violent content,suicide,self-harmandpornographiccontent.

Margot James, Digital Minister said "Thegovernment is working with a wide range oforganisa4ons to ensure users, par4cularlychildren,havethetoolstheyneedtohaveposi4veexperiencesonline. I'mpleasedtoseeSouthWestGridforLearning’sstrongcommitmenttothisaimand I hope this will be a useful resource inempoweringallusersof the internet in theUKtostaysafeonline."

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of South West Grid for Learning. SWGfL are the lead partner of the UK Safer Internet Centre and is a charitable trust working with schools and other organisations to provide safe and secure online access and resources. SWGfL has developed an international reputation within online safety. It is a founding member of UKCIS (UK Council for Internet Safety) and has spoken at conferences across the world. SWGfL is an online safety charity that works with industry to support internet users dealing with harmful content. The charity already operates the Revenge Porn Helpline; the only dedicated service supporting adult victims of intimate image abuse in the UK, and the UK Safer Internet Centre Helpline; supporting the children’s workforce, with online safety issues.

Why this and why now?

When it comes to reporting harm online, Project deSHAME (Dec 17) found that only 39% of young people aged 13 - 17 would be likely to report online sexual harassment to a social network. The Safer Internet Day Digital Friendships research (Feb 18) found that just over half of young people aged 8 – 17 would choose to report something that upset them online.

Similarly, Ofcom’s Adult Media Use and Attitudes annual report (April 18) found that a staggering 59% of adults aged 16+ would choose not to report a negative experience online. The UK Safer Internet Centre already provides reporting for illegal child sexual abuse material online via the IWF Hotline, and the Report Harmful Content Online hub extends this responsibility into harmful online content.

PLEASE NOTE: This portal can only be used as a source of support for anyone over the age of 13.

The website is still in a testing phase and SWGfL would love to hear your feedback.

PASS

WO

RD

S

Passwords are hugely annoying, especially trying to remember all the ones you use at home and all the systems in school, each needing their own unique complicated password to ensure security. The weakest factor in any technical system is the human being, and yet the people that code these things really don't help us at all.   A good password isn't necessarily one that is overly complex, it's a long password, the longer it is the harder it is to crack. If you can introduce complexity then that's much better.

As an example that I sometimes use, think of one of your favourite songwriters and your favourite song, for example Debbie Harry Breaking Glass, and yes I know I'm showing my age. That's quite a long password already, particularly if you put a colon in between each word which adds a further level of complexity, yet it's incredibly simple to remember. You could add further complexity by changing each letter L to the number 1, or the letter E to the number 3. You could use this combination for a lot of sites you use, for example Debbie:Harry:Breaking:Glass:-:Amazon or Debbie:Harry:Breaking:Glass:-Netflix.

For anyone thinking it, no that isn’t a password I actually use so don’t bother trying it.

Or easier still, use a password manager on your device.

Source: https://www.teamsid.com/splashdatas-top-100-worst-passwords-of-2018/

New password research comes out all the time from various organizations. What’s interesting is that, more often than not they all agree on the common ones. There was some research I read a couple of weeks ago from Splashdata (link below). They evaluate the common ones by analysing over 5 million leaked passwords on the Internet. Unsurprisingly the top 2 remain unchanged this year with 123456 at number 1 and password at number 2. At number 3 is 123456789 and number 4 is 12345678 - can you see a pattern yet?   An interesting new addition is this one - !@#$%^& - look s pretty strong doesn't it? Until you realise that it's basically 1234567 whilst holding the shift key.

SNIP

PETS

In December 2018 YouTube went public with some of their latest figuresregarding their community guidelines. It’s a very common complaint withschools, parents and children alike saying that they are seeing concerningcontent and askingwhat YouTube are doing about it. The report gives us aninsight into how much better the artificial intelligence-based moderationprocessesareworking. Ithasa longwaytogotosatisfyusall,but it’sgettingthere. On the same page there is a link to their transparency report as well,indicatingthatbetweenJuly-Sept2018YouTuberemoved1,667,587channels(whichcontained7,845,400videos)forviolatingguidelines.Thevastmajoritywereremovedforspam(79.6%)followedbynudityorsexualcontent(12.6%).

https://youtube.googleblog.com/2018/12/faster-removals-and-tackling-comments.html

Thepopularityoflive-streamingseemstobecontinuing.TikTok(formerlyMusically)isaspopularasever,ifnotmore,butitlooksasthoughothersaretryingtogetinontheact.UnsurprisinglyFacebookaregivingitagoandvery

quietlyreleasedtheirversioncalled‘Lasso’.

Idoubtwe’regoingtoseesignificantpopularitywithchildrenandyoungpeople,ifanypopularityatall,butit’sworthkeepingyoureyesandearsopenfor,particularlygiventheconcernsofsexualexploitationvialive-streaming.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/9/18080280/facebook-lasso-tiktok-competitor-app

Asifweneededmoreappstomakeusfeelinadequate,enterMANLY,theeditingappthatclaimsto“makeyourmanmore

handsome.”

I’vetriedit,itdoesn’t!!

https://www.gq.com/story/manly-app-bad-choices

SNIP

PETS

As I have mentioned many times in past magazines, almost sounding like abrokenrecordsometimes, there isnosuchthingasa technologysolution.Forexample there isn’t a single solution regarding children and screen time thatwouldwork foreveryone.However, thereare tools thatcanhelpuswith this,and one such tool is the new ‘Take a Break’ reminder within YouTube (thephoneversiononly).Thereminderisoffbydefaultbutyouonlyneedtogointo‘General’ within ‘Settings’ to turn it on. It’s a great way to allow children toregulate theirownuse, andeven tohelpyou setupa family agreement as tohow long they can spend watching videos. See here for a little moreinformation:

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9012523

ThebiggestchallengesarethehatersIfyou’veneverheardofNinja,askyourchildren,becauseIcanalmostguaranteetheyhave,andmanyofthemwillsubscribetohisYouTube,Twitchandsocialmediachannels.

He’sahugelypopulargamingstreamer,currentlyFortnite,andonhisYouTubechannelalonehehasjustunder21millionssubscribers.Infact,asIwastypingthiscolumnInippedontohischannelandhehaduploadedavideo5minutesago-italreadyhadjustunder40thousandviews!

Oneofthereasonsforhispopularityisthathe’sareallygoodgamerandchildrencanpickuplotsoftipsandtricksfromhim,butamoreimportantreasonisthathe’sreallyfamilyfriendly.He’smadeafewhiccupsinthepastbutthereisveryrarelyanyswearingoranythingelsethatparentswoulddeemtobeinappropriate.

Interestingly, in one of his many interviews he states that one of his challenges is ‘the haters’, essentiallypeoplethatmakeverynegativecommentsfornootherreasonthanjustbecausetheycan.ThisissomethingI’ve been speaking to Y5/6 children about for a fewweeks,mainly around the topic of criticism (bad andconstructive),andaskingwhattheydoaboutit.Mostsaythatwhentheyseecriticismornastycommentstheyjustmove onto something else, they don’t want to see it. I think this is awful, they have to stop enjoyingthemselvessimplybecauseoftheactionsofsomebodyelse.

Inmostgames(andotherapps)youcanblockandreportpeopleandit’simportantthatchildrenknowhowtodothis.Takethetimewithyourchildrentofindouthowyoublockandreport.Andifyoudon’tknowsimplysearchonYouTube,e.g.howtoblockandreportonFortnite.There’salwaysavideotoshowyouhow.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/31/18042762/ninja-tyler-blevins-twitch-fortnite-challenges